In the field of automotive driving technology, an electric machine is widely used as the sole drive (electrical vehicle) or it is used jointly with a drive motor of a different type (hybrid drive). In addition, the drive motor is often used to supply the driving power, and to recover braking energy in generator operation.
Because of the relatively low electrical range, hybrid vehicles and purely electrically driven vehicles require the most precise range estimate possible, so that the availability of the vehicle can be predicted and planned correctly. The range of an electric vehicle is influenced by numerous factors, e.g., the vehicle speed, gradient, electrical consumers in the vehicle.
The conventional methods for determining the range of an electric vehicle are not very precise because relevant influencing quantities are not taken into account.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a better method and a corresponding device for determining the range of an electrical vehicle.